The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), passed in March 2010, has had a profound effect on health care delivery systems. It prohibits insurers from denying coverage to people with preexisting conditions and mandates spending certain percentages of premium dollars on actual medical care rather than advertising, overhead or bonuses for executives.
Why was the affordable care act designed?
The Affordable Care Act was intended to revolutionize the health insurance industry and lower its costs for those eligible, by expanding Medicaid eligibility, creating a Health Insurance Marketplace and prohibiting insurers from denying preexisting condition coverage; additionally it requires insurers to cover essential health benefits as part of coverage agreements, with premium tax credits and cost-sharing reductions to lower expenses of those who qualify.
The Affordable Care Act’s goal was to reduce health care costs while also giving consumers value for their premium dollars and protecting people from abusive insurance company practices. RAND research indicates that the ACA has made considerable strides toward fulfilling its intended purposes.
Reform of health care presents numerous obstacles that thwart its success, many stemming from market failures. For instance, shortages enable high-demand physicians like anesthesiologists to negotiate higher salaries while simultaneously siphoning away patients away from those with limited supply (primary care physicians for instance), thus hindering reform’s ability to increase efficiency and decrease prices.
What was the main goal of the affordable care act?
The Affordable Care Act — commonly known as Obamacare — sought to broaden access to health insurance by expanding Medicaid eligibility, creating the Health Insurance Marketplace, and prohibiting insurers from denying coverage due to preexisting conditions.
The Affordable Care Act strengthens the review process states must go through when an insurer proposes raising rates by 10 percent or more and requires them to spend 80 percent of your premium dollars on medical services and quality improvements, or give back some as rebates.
Other provisions in the ACA promote prevention and wellness, address medical errors, encourage evidence-based medicine practices and expand electronic records use. Furthermore, RAND researchers are studying these and other aspects of the law in order to ascertain its impact on coverage costs and quality.
What was the main impact of the affordable care act?
The Affordable Care Act’s major impacts include expanding insurance coverage for more people while improving health care financing and lowering costs. It includes new premium tax credits and cost-sharing reductions for lower-income Americans, expanded Medicaid eligibility, a ban on insurers denying coverage or raising prices for individuals with preexisting conditions, as well as prohibiting annual or lifetime coverage limits and mandating all plans cover essential health benefits.
Steven Brill’s book America’s Bitter Pill: Money, Politics, Backroom Deals and the Fight to Fix Our Broken Health Care System was reviewed in Missouri Medicine November/December 2015. In it he details how Obama’s brain trust capitulated to pressure from hospitals, insurance companies and drug manufacturers that dominate medical industry to pass ACA. Brill claims the bill’s purpose was to get millions insured before considering cost issues later; unfortunately this plan has failed miserably.
